“Unclaimed” bank accounts to be given to Govt [1]
Thursday, March 31, 2016 - 16:54. Updated on Friday, April 1, 2016 - 19:11.
Up to half a million pa’anga of “unclaimed” money held in bank accounts at the Bank of the South Pacific in Nuku’alofa will be swallowed up by the government in June if the amounts are not claimed by the owners soon.
Several accounts belonging to the King of Tonga, as well as an Emergency Relief Trust Fund, a private retirement fund, and funds belonging to societies and groups such as the Tonga Society of Accountants, the Sisters of Mercy, the Ferry Princess Ashika Vava’u Victims Fund, the Friendly Island Teachers Association, and numerous PTA accounts, along with those of individuals and a few companies, will be included in a mass transfer of funds to the National Reserve Bank of Tonga if the owners do not contact the bank during the current claim period.
One account holds over $56,000. It was listed along with the names, addresses and balances of over 400 “unclaimed” accounts that were advertised in a Tongan newspaper by the Bank of the South Pacific on 22 March, in a notice “to make your claim to the bank within 3 months.”
Unclaimed accounts are defined as those that have not had any activity on them, including statement requests, for over seven years.
Twelve accounts hold more than $10,000 each. The largest amount of $56,236 belongs to an overseas depositor Leonaitasi Lolohea of Long Beach, CA, USA. Another overseas depositor Sione Tupou Huakau of Mt Eden, Auckland, has $22,915. The now defunct Tonga Society of Accountants has $17,482.
The Tonga Australia Soroptimist Project has $30,117, the trust account of Julius Kurt Geobel has $19,550 and there is a total of over $41,000 in various accounts in the name of HM or addressed to the Palace Office.
Dozens of community and church projects are listed, including the Vaiola Hospital’s Special Care Nursery $2117 and its Pap Smear program $2643, as well as the Lapaha Prayer Centre for the Nations $6,274 and Atenisi High School $6,407.
Sporting groups include the Fineupepe Community Swimming Health Fitness $5,267, Hihifo Western District Youth Sports Recreation Committee $2,437, Nuku’alofa Athletics Association $721, the Lavengamalie Cup $665, and FWC Secondary School Rugby $883, All Tonga Cricket $659 and TIGFA $629.
Unclaimed funds from the Supreme Court accounts include CV.693/03 Holameitonga $2,565 and C632/2001 Xing v Tatola $162.
There are family reunion funds, alumni funds, company funds and many personal accounts.
Contact
Talaheu Lavaki, Bank of the South Pacific’s Team Leader Operations said that that after three months, unclaimed accounts will be moved to the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.
“People will then have to claim their money directly from the Reserve Bank.”
Talaheu told Matangi Tonga today that no attempts were made to contact the account holders apart from the notice placed in a local newspaper last week.
“We published the account holders in the newspaper in the hope that these people will see their names and contact us. For those living overseas, they normally have a representative living in Tonga and hopefully they will see their names and inform them,” she said.
“We have already had responses with people contacting us about their accounts.”
She said the Bank of the South Pacific lists unclaimed monies annually and would like to urge people who have inactive accounts to contact them directly.
The bank cites a Tongan law “that any remaining Unclaimed Monies after the 3 months claim period will then have to be transferred to [the] National Reserve Bank of Tonga”.
It is understood that after the funds are transferred from the BSP to the NRBT then any claims must be approved at the Minister’s discretion.
Obligations
Matangi Tonga contacted accountant Christine ‘Uta’atu, of ‘Uta’atu & Associates, Nuku’alofa, who said that societies have an obligation to do something with their funds when they wind up.
A former executive officer of the Tonga Society of Accountants, Christine confirmed that the society was out of action and she was surprised to learn that over $17,000 of its money had been left in the bank account.
The TSA and any charitable organization by law come under the Incorporated Societies Act, and the officers at the time should have done something, she said.
“If you wind up for any reason, then any asset has to go and can be given to a similar society...Whoever is the treasurer of all these trusts or societies they have a legal obligation to do something with the money not just leave it to government like that."
She added that an Incorporated Society can also distribute its property among members after dissolution (Act/ Sec 4 (b), although this depends on what it put into its rules (Sec 5 (k).
It is not uncommon for small groups to dissolve after a few years.
“Sometimes you try something and it doesn’t work out...At TSA we worked hard for years but there were not enough people to come to meetings so it died a natural death.”
She advised societies who have unclaimed accounts to write to the bank immediately and secure their funds.
Dormant fees
Many of the “unclaimed accounts” advertised by the bank are little ones and belong to not just groups and organisations but also to many individuals.
“The ones that are just $10 are because the bank keeps putting a bank charge on it, so it’s almost gone anyway, they just take it,” said Christine. “Dormant account fees start after so many months of inactivity and they charge you and start taking it until it’s gone - so if these ones survived for seven years you can imagine how many bank charges they had in there.”
Christine also pointed out that no one could open a bank account without a proper contact address.
“Why can’t the bank make contact? It’s sad. Little groups trying to raise money for stuff, leave it there for a while and then suddenly it gets swallowed up by the government.”